Chapter 30 Emma #2
It took me almost two hours to set up everything and cover the floors with newspapers. Gracie ended up taking a nap right after breakfast, so it gave me all the time I needed to prepare without her interrupting.
“This is not going to end well,” he mutters under his breath, looking down at the floor with his hands on his hips.
I’ve already changed into a pair of PJ shorts and an old T-shirt Greyson let me borrow. Grey also changed into old clothes he doesn’t mind getting dirty, because there’s no doubt we will end up getting dirty. It’s paint. With an eleven-month-old.
Okay, now I see where this could go wrong. Oh, well. Too late.
I pick up Gracie from the ground and begin undressing her.
I think leaving her in just her diaper is the best solution.
Grey helps me out, then takes her from my arms as I go over to the paint and begin to pour different colors onto little plates, then place three white canvases on the floor.
When everything looks ready, I go back to my man and our little girl.
“You ready to have some fun, Little Tulip?” I take her back and bring her to the floor in front of her canvas.
Taking her hand, I show her what to do, dipping one finger into the purple paint, then letting it glide over the white board. She quickly catches on and dips her whole hand into the paint, bringing it to her canvas and tapping on it. Okay, not exactly what I had in mind, but still really cute.
Greyson and I settle down at our stations, watching her as we start our own and helping Gracie out with hers every few seconds. I take a spare plate and pour some glitter onto it, then pinch some between my fingers and let it drizzle down onto her canvas.
Little Tulip laughs and smacks her hand into the glitter-filled plate. Her once purple, green, and blue hand is now covered in pink sparkles. I look up at Grey, who stares at her hand with wide eyes, and offer him a nervous smile.
He looks down at his mostly blank canvas, then back up at her hand. “Wait, hold her hand, don’t wipe it off.”
He dips his left hand into the blue paint, using a brush to spread it along all his fingers, then presses it down on the white surface.
When he pulls away, a perfectly large handprint takes up most of the space.
He then takes my left hand and covers it with red paint before placing it over his blue handprint.
Once he’s done with mine, he moves to my other side, taking Gracie’s glitter-painted hand and putting it over my red handprint.
When he pulls it away, I’m mesmerized by the image before me. All three of our hands together. Grey’s in the back, mine in the middle, and Gracie’s over mine.
He smiles down at it, then lifts off the floor and places his canvas on the kitchen counter to let it dry as well as wash his hand. I release Little Tulip’s hand and let her get back to her artwork while I wipe my red hand with some baby wipes and refill all the plates with more paint.
Greyson returns and sits down behind me, knees up and legs spread wide, his hands bracing the floor behind him as I lean into his body. I turn my head to the side, looking back at this beautiful man I get to call mine.
He leans his head down as I bring my hand up to cup his nape, sealing his lips to mine in a mind-blowing explosion. I lose myself in him as he loses himself in me. My soul becomes one with his as they twirl around each other.
Gracie suddenly shrieks, and reality quickly sets back in. When I pull away and turn to the beautiful little girl, my eyes widen and I instantly shoot up straight. “Oh no! No, no, Gracie. Come back here!”
I push off Greyson and rush over to the sneaky little baby crawling away with two big paint tubes in her hands. Two very open paint tubes that squirt out onto the floor every time her hand presses down.
I take her into my arms and sit down on the floor with her on my lap while trying to take the tubes away from her. She laughs and tries to move her hands away, squeezing tighter every time I attempt to get them. Paint leaks from the top of the first tube as I try to remove it from her grasp.
She starts hitting me with the second tube right in the face, sending green paint onto my cheek and hair. I quickly shut one eye, not wanting to get some in it. “Oh my God! Greyson! Help me!” I shout with irritation while he simply sits back, laughing as he watches this disaster take place.
“I told you this was a bad idea.” He chuckles, walking over slowly as if he has all the time in the world.
He kneels beside us as I continue to fight off Gracie, who has taken it upon herself to put as much paint on me as possible. He grabs one of her hands and tries to open her tiny fist while I hold the other.
“What the heck? Why is this so hard?! How can a tiny little thing like this have such a death grip?!” he says, huffing as he continues to try, squirting more paint on us with every failed attempt. Like I said earlier. Hulk.
After a few more tries, he finally gets them away from her and lets out a deep breath. “Jesus. That was more intense than my workouts.”
When I dare to open my eyes after having shut both, I find all three of us with paint smudges and splatters all over, a giggle slipping past my lips as I look around at the mess we’ve made. He was right; not the best idea.
“Well… it seems Cece and Sy aren’t the only ones who need to stay away from paint.” I laugh harder as he joins along.
He sits back on his calves with a sigh and a soft smile. But in doing so, his foot somehow hits the plate filled with glitter, causing it to flip over and project a cloud of glitter all over us.
WORST. IDEA. EVER!
I gasp and instantly start coughing as I inhale some glitter powder. “Oh”—cough—“God!”—cough.
Greyson throws his head back as a burst of laughter explodes from him, his hand pressed against his chest, still holding the paint. Heavenly bliss pours from his lungs like a beautiful melody. “This is gonna be a B to get out,” he says when his laugh begins to die down.
“Oh, Wolf…” I shake out my hair quickly and huff when I see all the little sprinkles falling. “You have no idea.”